Card Swap, round 2, month 4

Happy June! Obviously, I'm behind on posting my May cards. Peggy sent an awesome kit and it inspired me to break out a bunch of my tools. I didn't remember to take a picture so I stole this one from Susan's blog.

There are a lot of firsts in these cards. If you've been following my blog, you've already seen this first card. I linked it up with Unity Stamps Friends with Flair (for the first time). That means I finally used a Unity Stamp set. Plus I broke out my new hexagon punch (more on that later).

For this next card, I broke out a Stamps of Life set I bought from the last LSS garage sale. The tag goes in the bag, obviously, but I left it out so you could see it.

I broke out a Tim Holtz die that I've had for a couple of years, plus a TCP stamp set I got on clearance from JoAnn (only 99 cents!). This card is going to a friend who loves gardening.

Obviously, I was really inspired by this kit. I was also inspired by a new scrapping space I'm carving out in one corner of the house. If it works out, I'll give more details later. If not, forget I said anything about it.

Thanks Peggy for a great kit. I already received Wendy's kit for June and I tell you, it is taking me out of my crafty comfort zone. But that's a good thing! If I keep up with this swap and cardmaking, maybe I can justify all my crafty purchases.

Please visit the rest of the cardmakers and leave them some comment love:


Susan:
http://simplysusansscrap.blogspot.com/

Katie:
http://www.2craftykaties.blogspot.com/

Peggy:
http://myviewfromthebleachers.blogspot.com/

Wendy:
http://shesgonecrafty.blogspot.com/

Laurie:
http://www.scrapsfromthebeach.com/

Unity Stamps: Friends with Flair

I've been slowly collecting Unity Stamps and finally, thanks to encouragement from my friend Miwa, I'm participating in my first Friends with Flair Friday. I used the Dragon Fly of Beauty set, which is one of their Stamps of the Week sets, and my new hexagon punch. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Bazzill cardstock, MME patterned paper, Unity stamps, Colorbok catseye ink

Take a guess

Hmmm, what could that be? An ice cube, a big bubble, modern art sculpture in the park? Try again. No really, just guess. 
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Hint: it isn't animal or vegetable.
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Hint: it was to do with scrapbooking.
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I didn't realize the cap on my adhesive wasn't secure and almost half the bottle leaked out. Good thing I kept it in a plastic bag. Bummed that a couple dollars got wasted, but thankful for plastic bags. Otherwise, a whole lotta supplies would have been ruined.

Congratulations!

We took a few days off to travel to Texas for our nephew's wedding. Mr. Fix-it asked if I was going to make their wedding card (of course dear!), but he was getting a bit anxious since I didn't finish it until two days before we left.

I envisioned something slightly different, but when I got my dies out, I saw that a redesign was in order because of the size of the die. Guess that's part of the creative process, right? It was a country wedding so I didn't want to go glittery or too bright. I'm really happy with how it turned out and hope the bride and groom like the card.

supplies: Quickutz die, Club Scrap textured paper, Coordinations pearl paper, vellum, Papertrey Ink stamp, Martha Stewart pearls.

What day is it?

How did it get to be June? I've spent the past few weeks being terribly confused as to what day it was. When I put my out-of-office notice up last month, I put one day return day on the auto e-mail reply, another day on my voice mail, and yet another day on the paper taped to my monitor...and they were all different. Think I needed a vacation? Luckily, the department calendar was correct if anyone cared to look it up, one out of three was correct and I was able to correct my e-mail from home. I had actually told people I would be gone longer than I was actually out, so hopefully, they were pleasantly surprised when I was back in the office.

I need to get my act together and get ready for another LSS garage sale, post some stuff for sale on FB/Craig's list/ebay, and just generally declutter. I think I'll start another get rid of 100 things in 100 days. Anyone care to join me?

Get ready to Stamp Out Hunger!

This year's food drive by the National Association of Letter Carriers is this Saturday, May 11th. It is easy! Just place a box or bag of non-perishable groceries (no glass please) by your mailbox and your letter carrier will pick it up to be donated to a local food pantry or service organization. Many food banks are running low this time of year because of the influx of food from the holidays is gone.

If your pantry looks like mine, it shouldn't be difficult to find a few things to donate.

Today's harvest

I picked another batch of Swiss chard (1.7 pounds!). The red Swiss chard will be cooked with some spinach, the heavy stems baked with parmesan cheese, and the rest will be washed and placed in Tupperware for later in the week.

And I picked the last of the sugar snap peas. It was tough going this year. I planted seeds three times and the first two times, the snails took out everything. I finally resorted to snail bait, which I hate to do. No organic garden this year, but I was desperate.

Card swap, month 3

Katie was this month's hostess and she sent out a lovely selection of papers and card bases as usual. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the kit before I dug into it. Hopefully, someone else did and I can steal their photo. I made three cards, as usual. I had hopes for more, but I got too busy (my usual excuse).

I loved the foiled butterfly paper in this first card. I had only this small piece so I left it as is (I debated fussy cutting the largest butterfly). I also wanted to keep the card simple to highlight the paper. Everything except the butterfly paper came from my stash.


Katie always sends us neat card bases and this base had the label cut out. I cut the base down a little so I could run it through my Cuttlebug to emboss it. I had to run it through twice and unfortunately, I couldn't get the top part to emboss as deeply. Ah well, maybe Mom won't notice. The patterned paper and butterfly sticker are from the kit. The pink ribbon at the bottom, flower, and button are from Susan's kit from last month, and the Happy Mother's Day ribbon I printed with a printer I borrowed from work.


I also loved this scalloped card base and I hope I did it justice. Katie also sent us some die cut butterflies. I used one as is and punched the smaller two out of another one. The large butterfly is attached with an "action wobble," which a plastic spring with adhesive, so it "flutters." The patterned paper is from the kit and the metal tag is an old Making Memories tag.


I am sooo enjoying having a selection of cards on hand. If you're interested in joining us in the future, let me know.

Here are the rest of the cardmakers. Visit them and leave them some comment love.

Susan:
http://simplysusansscrap.blogspot.com

Katie:
http://www.2craftykaties.blogspot.com/

Peggy:
http://myviewfromthebleachers.blogspot.com/

Wendy:
http://shesgonecrafty.blogspot.com/

Laurie:
http://www.scrapsfromthebeach.com/